German Wine Dinner at Delius

Friday, May 30, 2008

This was a dinner I was really looking forward to for some time. Delius', www.DeliusRestaurant.com, prix fixe dinning room was booked with a waiting list. The wine importer, Rudi Wiest and his sales rep Allie Mitchell along with Randy form the Wine Country, www.TheWineCountry.com, were at the table I was seated at. When you book as a single at Delius they put you at the rep's table. Always a lot of fun. Some times more so than others and this time was one of them. Rudi Wiest is an extremely knowledgeable about his wines and also with food pairings. His wines are poured at many of the "very top" restaurants in the US. Places that I cannot afford to eat at.

We were treated a sparkling wine when we first entered the room. I did not write the name down as I thought it would be on the order form, but it was not. All I know is it was very good, a little dry but great fruity taste. The cost was about $34 so I guess I will have to track it down at Wine Country. Fortunately by arriving first, I got 3 glasses of this jewel.

Appetizer was a "Caviar Parfait", caviar, chopped egg, perhaps it was sour cream, diced pickles served on a miniature blini with a few field greens. Served with a 2006 Hans Wirsching Estate Silvaner, Franken. The wine was excellent and the food matched it. After tasting this particular Silvaner, I feel that it would be a great wine with oysters instead of sauvignon blanc. Rudi Wiest said it paired extremely well with sashimi. So that is another pairing I am going to have to try.

Next, wild mushroom with lobster soup. Louise is such a master with soup. Another big hit. Served with a 2006 Wegelar Pure Riesling, Rheingau.

The foie gras was served next. I told the waitstaff if anyone didn't eat foie gras they could give it to me. Only one person sent the plate back to the kitchen without touching it. So I was very lucky to get two plates of this dish. The dish consisted of seared foie gras with rhubarb compote, rhubarb gastrique, rhubarb gelle and lime salt. I was in 7th heaven. Rudi Wiest did not like the pairing of the wine that was served with the dish. He said the wine was too sweet and it should have been a 1992 instead of a 1994. He was right about the pairing. Tasting the foie gras with the wine was great but when you took some of the rhubarb components it wiped the wine out. This dish was served with a 1994 Wegler Wehlener Sonnenuhr Rielsing Spatlese, Mosel.

Main course was Crispy pork loin with red wine glazed cabbage, apple relish and apple & pork
ravioli with hazelnut brown butter. It just does not get better than this. The pork was tender and juicy. the cabbage was perfect and the ravioli was great. I took most of this dish home , as I did want to have room for dessert. I ate the leftovers this morning for breakfast. Tasted just as good today as yesterday only I did not have leftover wine to drink with it. The dish was served with a 2006 Furst Spatburgunder Tradition (Pinot Noir), Franken. Beautiful wine with this dish. A great pairing. This is a very food friendly wine.

Dessert was apple strudel with warm vanilla custard. An orchid was on the dish and its edible so I dipped in in the custard and ate it.

David from Delius opened at bottle of 2003 Pfalz Pinot, Spatlese Dry, Weingut Okonotwierat Rebholz at our table (don't check the spelling because I was writing the name down without my glasses in a semi lighted room so it may be close but not perfect). It was also very good. It is a wine that Delius has in their wine selection book.

Again another great dinner at Delius with good wines. Got home at midnight so you know I had a good time.

Delius still has an acoustic problem in the dining areas. They are getting ready to tackle the prix fixe dining area first. I sure hope they do it soon. The noise level isn't deafening but it is way to high for me. I feel a really high end dining establishment should have great ambiance and the lack of noise is one the enjoyable aspects of dining out. If I want noise I can go to any chain restaurant and get it. It seems that the trend today is, noise, noise, noise.